Back home this week for a series of town hall meetings, Ayotte is facing new constituent anger and a coordinated effort by gun-control groups to turn her vote into a political liability. These organizations include Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group founded by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), and the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress. Other groups are deploying organizers to New Hampshire, Arizona, Arkansas, Nevada and North Dakota in hopes of shaming moderate senators of both parties who voted against the background-check plan…

“There’s a sense that the people who support background checks know that they’re in the mainstream,” Stadtman said. “To be rejected by Ayotte like that, when it was so obvious that many of her constituents wanted her to vote for it — it was a tipping point.”

After just 3 months in office Jeff Flake has already become one of the most unpopular Senators in the country. Just 32% of voters approve of him to 51% who disapprove and that -19 net approval rating makes him the most unpopular sitting Senator we’ve polled on, taking that label from Mitch McConnell…

We saw serious improvement in Rob Portman’s poll numbers in the second half of 2012 following his consideration as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, but he’s taken a nose dive in 2013. Portman’s approval has dropped a net 18 points over the last 6 months from +10 (35/25) in October to now -8 (26/34) in April. Portman’s popularity decline has come across the board with Democrats (from 15/39 to 8/50), Republicans (62/11 to 46/19), and independents (28/23 to 24/32) alike…

And in Nevada Dean Heller has seen a more modest decline in his approval numbers, from 47/42 right before the election to 44/41 now. However with the independent voters who were critical to his narrow victory in November, his approval has dropped from 52/37 then to now 42/42.

***

Nothing like waking up to a poll saying you’re the nation’s least popular senator. Given the public’s dim view of Congress in general, that probably puts me somewhere just below pond scum.

Now, notwithstanding the polling firm’s leftist bent, I would assume that my poll numbers have indeed taken a southerly turn since my vote against the Manchin-Toomey background check proposal. It was a popular amendment, and I voted against it.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) revealed that some members of his party opposed expanding background checks for gun sales recently because they didn’t want to “be seen helping the president.”…

“In the end it didn’t pass because we’re so politicized. There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it,” Toomey admitted on Tuesday in an interview with Digital First Media editors in the offices of the Times Herald newspaper in Norristown, Pa.

The Times Herald noted that in “subsequent comments,” Toomey “tried to walk that remark part-way back by noting he meant to say Republicans across the nation in general, not just those in the Senate.”

***

“After you get the 29″ votes to filibuster, one conservative staffer put it, “you know who to beat up.” The filibuster effort, by this telling, was something of a whip count by a guerilla unit of conservative freshmen.

So Lee, Cruz, and Paul — and their staffs — set out to work on those Republicans who were less than firm. Almost the entire GOP conference was pretty strong in opposing the Democrats’ more Draconian gun control proposals — such as an assault weapons ban — but the conservative rump didn’t want any new regulations on gun ownership by law-abiding citizens. Cruz, along with almost every other Republican, signed on to an alternative bill by Sen. Charles Grassley, which mostly beefed up the current federal database behind background checks.

Anything more ambitious was a nonstarter in the eyes of Cruz, Paul and Lee. Specifically, they rejected the proposal by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to create a mandatory universal background check. Toomey-Manchin was the only real chance Obama had of passing a gun control bill. If that went down, gun control went down…

Last night on MSNBC’s Hardball, Chris Matthews played this video and asked for my response.

I brought up the analogy of terrorism yielding calls for war in the Muslim world, or restrictions on civil liberties. These are standard responses to terrorist attacks, and it’s very likely that some victims or their families would advocate such a response.

Blowback

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So MarshFox, if you get the chance while you’re in Oregon, go to a place off the expressway near Eugene. When you get to Eugene, head toward the mountains and a little town called Oakridge. Before you get to Oakridge, there’s a little spot in the road called Westfir. There’s a place along the river there, called Secret. You walk back in along the river a ways. The locals will know it. You can catch some of the prettiest, tastiest rainbow trout there you’ll ever see. :)

That Pew poll is BS. It was a robopoll and the way the questions where worded it implied they voted to repeal the current NICS system. Not even Chuck Todd and Ben Smith were buying it when that clown Mika was pimping it on MSNBC. If anything Flake and Ayotte’s numbers are down because they voted with the democrats for cloture.

She and all the other targeted senators should just answer thus: This law would violate the 2nd amendment to the Constitution It violates my and others oath of office to support/defend the Constitution, It violates the rights of the citizens of my state to be able to defend themselves,and I will not do any of that now or ever regardless of the pressure put upon me by people who have a an apparent Napoleon Complex and need to dictate to other people as to what is/is not in their best interest. If the people of my state want representation by someone who will violate their rights on the whim of an anti-constitutional politico, then when the next election comes up, feel free to vote for that person, but rest assured it WILL NOT be me………………

This is exactly my point- a gun is far more dangerous and lethal as a weapon.

Exactly. The home invaders will have the guns…and you will be left with the bat. Good luck with that.

I’m sincerely sorry to hear that you had to experience such a horrible event in your life. I hope the perp was eventually caught and jailed for life.

Thanks.

It would be interesting to look at the number of rapes perpetrated by acquaintances, scenarios where a firearm isn’t readily at hand. The importance of self-defense training cannot be overemphasized.

Well, what we can look at is the violent crime rate…and keep in mind that the Home Office has been busted repeatedly fudging the numbers over the years to make them look better:

US: 30.88

UK: 140.71

Sources: Home Office, British Crime Survey, FBI’s Annual Report Crime in the United States

So, I don’t think that it is even a question that most of the women raped in the UK would rather have had the CHOICE to arm themselves than become a statistic. Maybe, a gun wouldn’t have prevented their assault, but maybe it would have. The decision should be ‘left to the woman.’

The Left always proves my point: They are only ‘PRO-CHOICE’ when it comes to pot, uteri, and recta.

That Pew poll is BS. It was a robopoll and the way the questions where worded it implied they voted to repeal the current NICS system. Not even Chuck Todd and Ben Smith were buying it when that clown Mika was pimping it on MSNBC. If anything Flake and Ayotte’s numbers are down because they voted with the democrats for cloture.

You know, fellow Conservatives, I find it odd that liberals say we have a ‘fetish’ for our guns. But we never talk about them unless liberals bring them up. And that’s all they’re doing lately: Obsessing about guns in general, and ours in particular.

They seem, of late, to have really gone off the deep end with it. Something no longer seems right in Libland since the last gun-confiscation bill got derailed in the Democrat Senate. According to cminaz, who is one of my fave posters, Morning Joe can’t let go of the subject of guns. And it’s been two weeks since the vote!

Maybe once Obamacare kicks in, liberals can get some free anti-depressants as well as birth control. They really need it!

First, as noted, a lot of activist groups have been running a lot of ads against these senators, while these same senators aren’t currently really running their own campaigns. Additionally, these are polls of adults, the questions are worded in a slightly loaded manner, and the whole Sandy Hook thing is still fairly recent.

Basically, polling numbers now aren’t going to be terribly predictive. The fact that these numbers are being paraded around is more an indication that liberals are trying to make a narrative, more than anything else.

Now of course, that doesn’t mean that this tactic should be ignored. However, if I had to guess, this is probably mostly just gun control groups trying to rattle a couple more votes their way. Frankly, I think its probably irrelevant at this point, as I cannot see democrats making another major gun control push so close to a midterm election.

Howling aside, they know what’ll happen in the red state seats they’re trying to defend if they keep going after guns.

The fact that these numbers are being paraded around is more an indication that liberals are trying to make a narrative, more than anything else.

I’m of the view that the gun-grabbers are totally freaked that their Dem senate failed to pass a bill. Liberals really don’t know what to make of it, and I imagine many feel deep inside that they were somehow ‘betrayed’.

Once again, they didn’t get their way, so now we are dealing with the bullying and the tantrums, the lies and the hysteria, as they try and get people to cave so they can have a do-over. As usual, unlike true grass-roots movements that have shown up to town halls in the past, this “majority of citizens” has to bus in their people from out of state. Not buying these polls at all.

Hmmm, let’s see…
Abortion is apparently a “constitutional right” now. BUT, women have died during the procedure, and women have had psychological issues after the procedure, whether from regret, guilt, or other trauma. This obviously means that abortion is dangerous and must be monitored. (Cue to the sad parents and partners/family members of women who have died from botched abortions…) SO, I propose we register all abortions, in a massive government-run database, so we can follow up on these women to keep them safe, and prevent psychologically fragile women from having an abortion. There should also be a mandatory waiting period before the abortion is performed. Of course, it would be a confidential database! No newspaper would ever publish the names and addresses of women who had abortions. No employers or other agencies would ever have access! No politician would ever mis-use this highly confidential and sensitive data! Who cares if this data is already tracked and there are laws on the books for dealing with these situations already? Abortions must be registered to keep us safe from ourselves!
I’m sure this would fly.
//////////

My dad joined the NJ National Guard in 1939. When they found out he was underage, they released him.

He did it again in 1940, with his mom’s permission.

It was a joke to him: He was promised when he signed up he would never go overseas. Which, he always laughed, made him wonder why he was on a ship that landed him in North Africa as part of the invasion force. ~S~

These despicable Sandy Hook activists have lost all right to our compassion or attention. They are media-seeking vultures who are preying off their 15 minutes to further the leftist agenda. I’m sorry that worthless whore lost her mom but that doesn’t give her the right to demand we give up our civil rights. She is another Cindy Sheehan.

These despicable Sandy Hook activists have lost all right to our compassion or attention. They are media-seeking vultures who are preying off their 15 minutes to further the leftist agenda. I’m sorry that worthless whore lost her mom but that doesn’t give her the right to demand we give up our civil rights. She is another Cindy Sheehan.

Happy Nomad on May 2, 2013 at 7:18 AM

They’re the same as the four ’9/11 Widows’ who bashed Bush at every turn.

FIrst, if I were Kelly Ayotte, I would be making the point there was nothing in the bill that would have prevented Sandy Hook. I would tell the protesters, if you really want to go after members of COngress, go after those who wrote a bill that would do nothing to prevent the next Sandy Hook. For those people to make this so political is the real crime, along with the bill itself.

As far as Republicans saying they didn’t want to help Obama, Obama doesn’t deserve any help. Is there anything in this bill that was good for the American people? Is there anything in this bill that would prevent another Sandy Hook? He calls it common sense, what makes sense about a bill, designed after a mass shooting, that does nothing to address the causes of that shooting?

She isn’t alone and there are more assaults then we even know.
So many go unreported.

My “nice” neighbor came to me door one night..in nothing but underwear..tweaked out on meth or something..delusional saying I looked like his ex-wife..was crazy..I will skip further detail.
Had my gun-only time I pulled it.
Yeah, I grew up in soCal with the gangs and I can fight..but I wouldn’t have had a chance with this guy.
Bayam..you are ignorant and insulting with “learn how to fight”.
The only relief I had was my gun and the only thing that scared his aSS to flee. I wasn’t going to ponder what his intent was or have a fist fight. I was ready.
Just one story in millions.

Bayam..”learn how to fight” grow up and find reality..oh and FU.
Once I shoot him..I will beat the shite outta him..better?

The primary purpose of polls is to frighten conservative politicians into acting liberal. It’s time to destroy the polling industry and that is easily done by the top conservatives calling for a boycott of all pollsters. It doesn’t work without conservative participation and they can’t do polls to determine how many conservatives aren’t participating because we don’t have to tell the pollsters we are conservatives who are refusing to participate in polls. Just “click”. They’ll release fake polls for a while showing conservatives are still participating, but that won’t work for long.